Heating Units

Discussion in 'Energy & Fuel' started by Ken Anderson, Mar 4, 2022.

  1. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Our house is currently heated by an oil-fueled boiler unit, which heats water that is circulated through pipes throughout the house. This has worked well and, although it was horribly expensive for the first few years we were here, we haven't been going through a whole lot of oil since the house was properly insulated several years ago. Plus, we now have a heat pump upstairs that takes some of the pressure off of the oil-heating demand.

    However, the boiler in our house was apparently installed many years ago. We were told that the company that manufactured it went out of business the year that it was installed here, so they probably bought it in a going-out-of-business sale.

    None of that matters to me because it has been functional. However, it is beginning to make some new noises while it is running. There is a loud tinny sound sometimes when the boiler is on, although it's not there most of the time.

    The HVAC guy who has been servicing our furnace each year retired last year, so we had a new guy, from another company, come by today, and he refused to work on it. He said that it wasn't up to code. He made it clear that it wasn't illegal because it was probably installed before Millinocket had a code, but that the thing that makes it not up to code is that it is in a room that is far too cramped, and he doesn't feel like he has enough room to work.

    Given that the boiler is probably about forty years old and it's not up to code, we're looking to replace it, which leaves things open for other options. Although we're willing to get it done anytime, we're hoping to be able to put it off until spring. Not only will this give us the lack of pressure when it comes to things freezing up but we'd like to wait for our new HVAC guy to be released from jail.

    Convicts work a lot cheaper, but that's not really it. He's someone we know through my wife's recovery center, and he's pretty good at what he does, except when it comes to staying out of jail, I suppose. He's actually serving a sentence for something he was arrested for more than a couple of years ago, before he quit doing drugs, since the courts were closed down for Covid. So, a couple of years after he quit doing drugs, he has been called to pay the price. But that's not what this is about.

    We're looking at options other than another oil-burning furnace, although we're still open to that too. Propane is an option, particularly since the unit would fit into the room currently occupied by the oil-fueled boiler without violating any codes. Or it could go somewhere else, as it's not nearly as large.

    Years ago, we talked about wood heat since we own a hundred acres of woodlands. But you can't take a week's vacation in February when your house is heated with wood, at least not without a lot of preparation. Plus, there's a lot of maintenance involved with wood heat, and it's quite likely that our chimney isn't up to it.

    Pellet stoves are popular here and, since the pellets are gravity fed, you don't have to be there shoveling it into the stove every few hours, and we know people with pellet stoves who can walk away from their house for a week during the winter, as long as they ensure an adequate supply of pellets.

    Believe it or not, there are people here who burn coal. My wife's recovery center burns coal, for that matter, and it's said to be a comparatively inexpensive and effective option. Realistically, I don't know how that would work out in a home setting, given that we don't have a basement storage space, however. A house near us burns coal because I happened to see it being delivered one day. Otherwise, given the left's hatred for coal, I'd like that option.

    The person we buy our oil from insists that if we installed a larger heat pump downstairs, along with the one we already have upstairs, the heat pumps would be able to heat the home through the winter. That's contrary to what I had thought I knew about heat pumps, which was that they weren't particularly effective in extreme winter temperatures, but maybe the technology has improved.

    I don't know. I'm leaning toward propane or another oil boiler since I am used to that, although I'd like to explore the possibility that a heat pump would actually work. This would be the kind of thing it would be nice to have Frank around for.

    Ideally, I'd rather find someone who will fix the damned thing we have and see if it can last longer than we do, although there might be some comfort in having a heating system that wasn't nearly as old as we are.
     
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  2. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    I think I related how our furnace broke while we were on a trip to visit grandchildren in January. We had a gas furnace and replaced it with a gas furnace (forced air). Our house was basically heated with wood when we bought and had electricity as a back-up. I put in a propane furnace with plans to convert to natural gas should it become available. A number of years later, a school on the highway opted to put in gas, so the line ran fairly close and a LID (Limited Improvement District) brought the line even closer. I got together with the nearest neighbor and together we brought the gas line down the road to our driveways, splitting the cost and had a technician come out and convert to natural gas from propane, which made our bills drop dramatically. That was almost 30 years ago. Upon replacement (after taking bids), we found several things that were not to current code, so those were fixed, and the new furnace is physically and BTU-wise smaller, since we have added significant insulation since we bought the house. I don't know how the gas bills will be affected, as we have only had it a couple months--not really enough to know. The furnace we wanted was not available, so we had to take what we could get due to "supply issues".
    I had a friend who used oil to heat his house--mansion--and was shocked by the heating bills the first winter, so he put in one of those outside boilers and fed it with tree trimmings, firewood, and whatever else he could get, and loaded that stuff in using his tractor bucket. That worked really well as long as he was home, but he had to travel for both pleasure and business, so he had a technician come in and rig a back-up system using his oil system and a relay in the basement. It was hooked to the thermostat somehow, and when the temperature dropped below a set-point, the oil valve would open and the oil furnace would kink in. As far as I know, he never had any problem after that. Something like that might work for you, @Ken Anderson and you do not cut your wood in February unless you are cutting for the following year. Do your wood cutting in the fall when the sap has gone down but it is still warm enough that it is not uncomfortable working outside.
     
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  3. Beth Gallagher

    Beth Gallagher Supreme Member
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    We have a natural gas furnace; it's economical to operate and efficient.

    As for heat pumps, I always thought they were pretty useless in extreme cold. We have one in our motorhome and it's worthless if the temp drops below 40 degrees.
     
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  4. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Heat pumps can be used here, but I think they have to be water sourced. Simple air-sourced heat pumps do not work in cold temps.
     
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  5. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Yeah, natural gas isn't available here. Maine keeps passing laws against it, or regulations that make it unavailable. I don't know what their problem with natural gas is but it's something political - the Democrats passed it and Republicans try to undo it every now and then, but Maine always has more Democrats than Republicans, thanks to Southern Maine liberals. Most people here use oil for heating, I think, although pellet stoves are becoming increasingly popular. If I'm going to burn wood, I'd rather not be hostage to pellet manufacturers, but I suppose that could be said for most of the other options as well.

    Millinocket made outdoor boilers illegal about ten years ago. Someone complained that her neighbor had one and it stunk, so that was all it took for a new ordinance. I can't remember who it was but she was probably related to someone on the council because there were more people arguing in favor of them than against, but they banned them anyhow.

    Our woodlands are pretty much unavailable, except by snowmobile or snowshoes, from November to April or May, or whenever the snows began until after the mud season. So fall would be the best time for that, anyhow. I can remember helping my dad log during the summer and it wasn't any fun at all. Of course, that was mostly peeling poplar and I didn't think I'd survive the mosquitos, blackflies, deerflies, and horseflies.

    Maybe I'll look for a nuclear reactor kit on eBay.
     
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    Last edited: Mar 5, 2022
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  6. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    That would be quite expensive, but I think Japan has some available. The permits in Maine would be prohibitive, though, as they would be classed with the big monster things. The most sophisticated heating system I have ever seen was in a friends house just a little north of us. He was an Air National Guard pilot and a pilot for FedEx (and he recently died in a crash of his own plane). Because he worked for FedEx, he got special freight rates and flew this "wood furnace" over from Germany. It was this monster thing that was gas powered (he used propane) and wood or what ever powered as the principal fuel. It had a water jacket that contained 20,000 gallons (might be more--I can't remember the capacity) with water pumps that supplied both hot water and heat for his large house. This was designed to be installed outside, but he put it into his garage due to the winters here. He fired it up once a week during the summer to provide all his hot water, and once daily during the winter to provide hot water and heat his house. He would stuff anything burnable into the firebox--wood, trash, etc.--and light it off. It resembled a jet engine when it was burning, but a large firebox full of fuel was reduced to a couple cupfuls of ash. I think he said it superheated the water and everything was so insulated that it would stay warm for a week or more. All the pipes carrying the water were heavily insulated as well, and it may have had a heat exchanger to separate the jacket water from the "house water" but I cannot recall. It was truly an amazing thing, but I am sure the furnace itself plus the freight from Germany cost A LOT.
     
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  7. Teresa Levitt

    Teresa Levitt Veteran Member
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    oh my..so many decisions on this kinda thing...just wanted to say...we'd have been better off to have stayed in the caves....good luck with all!
     
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  8. Nancy Hart

    Nancy Hart Veteran Member
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    Heat pumps are not bad for cooling. Slightly more efficient than electric AC at my house. But not good for heat if your house isn't well insulated, even in north Georgia. My parents mobile home was insulated like a cocoon and their HP worked well down to 18 degrees (about as low as it ever gets here). My house didn't do so well. I switched to natural gas.

    The part I hated most was it took forever to heat up your house when you returned, if you happen to turn the heat down low when you left.

    "Heat pumps usually produce air that is 85-92°F. This is plenty warm to heat your home to your desired temperature. But the air coming out of the vents can feel cold. Gas furnaces produce air that is 130-140°F range."
     
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  9. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    We found someone who would work on our heating unit. As it turned out, he put the unit in when he was 19 years old and said that his son is 27 years old now, so it's not a new unit. He was able to get things working but suggests we replace it ASAP. He is still in the business of installing and serving furnaces so we might be able to use him when we decide what we want.
     
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  10. John Brunner

    John Brunner Senior Staff
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    I used to have an old oil floor furnace in my previous house. There was one grate in the middle of the house,and you could look down and see the heat exchanger. I woke up more than once in the middle of the night to crawl under the house and bleed water out of the line. Boy, was I glad when natural gas came to my neighborhood.
     
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